


road trip

by leijonara



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: And in love, Everyone's gay, Gen, M/M, Modern AU, Multi, Multiple Pov, Polyamory, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 23:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10559684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leijonara/pseuds/leijonara
Summary: Obligatory newsies roadtrip au, someone had to do it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> . find me at spotsies.tumblr.com. this could get more chaps but dont count on it

The boot door wouldn't shut. Spot was glaring at it like it had wronged him, personally him, and he was planning on keeping a blood feud for the next hundred and fifty years. He gave it another shove, and Crutchie wondered if he thought he could scare it into submission. He was beginning to pity the bags inside.  
Finally, with one tremendous slam, the door clicked into place. Spot gave it a nod and wandered off to terrify some other unsuspecting victim.  
Crutchie looked around. He couldn't see Jack anywhere, which was strange since he was sure he'd said he'd be checking the tires. Davey seemed to be doing that instead, so Crutchie went over to talk to him.  
"Hey, Davey," he greeted. Davey looked up from where he was checking the air pressure with a smile, pushing himself up to stand and dusting his hands off.  
"What's up?"  
"You seen Jack around?"  
"Yeah, he's just over in there." He waved to the other car, where Crutchie finally spotted his boyfriend in the passenger's seat with Specs behind the wheel, map spread over the dashboard. He hurried over with a quick "thanks!" to Davey and joined them, peering in through the window.  
"Sup, Crutch," Jack said distractedly, tracing a long line in marker over the map. "Hey, what town's we sleepin' at on the third night?" Specs peered at his phone.  
"Uh, we were gonna camp beside the road that night." Crutchie tipped his head.  
"You makin' a map?"  
"Yeah."  
"Awesome," he said happily. "That's such a cool idea." Jack finally looked up, grinning.  
"Ain't it just?"  
"We don't really need it," Specs pointed out, holding up his phone. "We got GPS." Jack rolled his eyes.  
"It ain't about usin' it for directions, it's just... somethin' to look at when we's done. Sentimental and shit." Jack went back to drawing his line, occasionally conferring with Specs about something or other. Crutchie was happy to watch them for a little while, til he was startled by a cough behind him. He turned to see Blink.  
"What time we goin'?" he asked. Crutchie glanced at Jack.  
"I dunno, when are we?" Jack paused thoughtfully, then craned his neck to look out the window. Crutchie followed his gaze to where Race and Romeo were having a heavily dramatised slapfight instead of going over the checklists like he'd asked them to.  
"When they sort their shit out. So... never. Blink, why don't ya go do it instead?" Jack suggested. Blink groaned, but turned and headed over anyway, calling out to Mush as he went. 

The plan had originally been to take one car, Davey's beat up old van that his mother used to run errands, but when they figured out how much gear they'd be bringing there wasn't really room for everyone, so Spot had suggested they split into two cars and Specs had procured another van from the rental place. It had a funny smell and a suspicious stain on the passenger's seat, but unlike Davey's van it had actual seats in the back.  
Figuring out the groups had been easy enough. Race and Romeo, ever the bromance of the century, had grabbed each other and informed everyone they'd form a suicide pact if they couldn't be in the same car, so that was that, and then of course Spot and Specs would join them. That left the Davey-Jack-Crutchie triad and Blush in the other car. It worked out well, since that meant each car had two drivers, and it also had the least chances of ending in a fistfight.  
Crutchie was quite pleased because he now found himself playing I-Spy with Mush, Blink and Jack, who were the best to play with because they took it seriously, but not too seriously. Blink, he was learning, was absolutely killer at I-Spy.  
"Crutch," Jack informed him eventually, "y'know you look straight at whatever it is ya pick. Gives it away." He flushed red and this time, decided to look directly in the opposite direction of what he'd picked. Okay, he thought, looking out one side of the window. Trees. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with T!" He then turned to look the other way, as planned, but faltered. Oh. Right. There were trees on that side too. A slightly obvious fact, considering they were driving through a back road in the woods.  
"Is it... trees?" Mush asked after a few moments, and Crutchie groaned.  
"Yeah." Jack gave him a consoling pat on the back and then a kiss on the cheek, which did make things better. Blink and Mush high fived. Crutchie spotted Davey smiling from the driver's seat up front.

They made their first stop at about lunchtime, pulling into a tiny roadside gas station. Everybody spilled out of the cars, whining about stiff legs and starvation. Crutchie hopped out last as usual, grabbing his crutch on the way and going over to the picnic style tables to take a seat. After a moment, Jack joined him, spreading the map out on the table. He leaned in to have a look.  
"Where's we up to?" he asked curiously.  
"We ain't gotten that far yet." Jack pointed to a spot right near the start of the line.  
"Sweet," came a voice from behind them. Romeo was peering at the map. "Where we stoppin' tonight?" Crutchie frowned when his boyfriend gestured to a different point further up the line.  
"That's a lot further than we gone so far, though, how do we cover more distance while drivin' for the same amount a' time?"  
"We started late so we'll get there later than we was plannin' on," Jack replied, slinging his arm around Crutchie's shoulders and pulling him in close to his side. "We gonna make the motel after sunset, but they don't mind us checkin' in late."  
Just then, the rest came to join them at the table, bearing the sweet gifts of shitty gas station food. Crutchie took the hot dog Davey handed to him and bit in. He could see Blink inspecting his suspiciously. Romeo appeared to be trying to deepthroat his while maintaining intense eye contact with Specs. It was kind of impressive, and a little bit intimidating. Race was sitting perched on the table, which Crutchie didn't think was very hygienic, with Spot leaning into his side as they ate. Everyone was being very cute (Romeo was kind of toeing the line though), and Crutchie decided he wanted a picture.  
Leaving his hot dog on the table, he got up and opened the car door, leaning in to grab his camera. It was a cute little Kodak and he'd saved up to get one, and lots and lots of film, especially for this trip. He snapped a quick picture, kind of grateful that Mush's waving hand obscured Romeo's face, and put it back, carrying the little polaroid back to the table so they could watch it develop. 

Back on the road, and Jack had joined Davey up the front of the van to help him navigate and keep him company (and pick the music, which he was kinda bad at). They were on the highway now, so there wasn't much navigating to be done, and they were mostly just talking quietly, with Jack pausing to call out whenever he noticed some particularly interesting roadside attraction.  
Crutchie was content to sit in the back and listen to Mush and Blink chat. They weren't being particularly roadsafe, since the back of the van was just some rugs and blankets and cushions that would double as pillows when they slept rough. There were no seatbelts, or seats for that matter, and it'd taken a long time and a lot of kisses to get Davey to agree. That was okay, though. Crutchie really liked kissing Davey.  
Blush were being particularly cute just then, he thought. Blink was leaning against a pile of cushions, with his arms wrapped around Mush, who was sitting between his legs and leaning his head back against his boyfriend's chest as they talked. Crutchie wasn't really trying to keep up with their conversation so much as soak up the warm afternoon mood. Still, he tuned in to random snippets. Right now it was about music Mush liked.  
"I ain't never listened to him before," Blink was saying. Crutchie watched as Mush took one of Blink's hands in both of his and started tracing shapes on his palm. As subtly as he could, he reached for the camera.  
"He's really nice! Sounds so nice an' light an' floaty."  
"You got his music on your phone?"  
"Oh, yeah!" Mush perked up and pulled his phone out. "Jack! Can you hook up my phone to the car? Play... this." Jack reached back, taking it and plugging it in and tapping a few things on the screen. A couple of moments later a dreamy track started playing. Mush settled back into Blink's arms, and craned his head to look up at him. "This song made me think of you the first time I heard it!" Blink's little smile broke into a grin, the kind of unguarded surprise that seemed to radiate sunlight.  
"Yeah?"  
"Yeah!" Crutchie found himself grinning too at how cute they were, but he looked away after a second. He didn't want to intrude in their moment. He met Jack's eyes and they shared a smile. Jack mouthed 'I love you'. Crutchie mouthed it back, chest warm. A moment later he was distracted by the lyrics in the song.  
"Oh, hey, he's singin' 'bout a boy!" he exclaimed, delighted. "This song's so cute, Mush. What's it called again?" Mush beamed at him.  
"It's called 'The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us!'" he replied, giggling. "It's a bit of a mouthful, huh?"  
"It sure is," Crutchie agreed, then paused. "Hey, you fellas look super cute right now. Can I get a pic for my album?" He would have rather snapped something candid, but he knew Blink was kind of iffy about pictures sometimes and in any case he didn't think it was right to interrupt a private moment, so it was better to wait and then ask. Blink looked up, surprised, but after a moment nodded along with Mush. He offered up a bashful smile to match Mush's huge grin and Crutchie lifted his camera to snap a picture. When the film came up, he handed it to Mush, who spent the next minute or so staring very hard at it as though that would make it develop faster. Blink set his chin on his shoulder to have a look and privately, Crutchie thought that would make a lovely picture as well.  
When the song ended, Jack returned Mush's phone and put his own music back on. Crutchie swapped a look with Blink as 'Come On Eileen' started playing.  
"You can't play this when we can't dance!" he protested, leaning over to smack Jack lightly on the shoulder and getting nothing but a cheeky grin for his trouble. "Seriously! How'd you like it if I gave you a canvas an' paints but said you couldn't paint anythin'?" Davey chuckled, but didn't take his eyes off the road. Road rule following nerd.  
"He's got a point there, Jack," he said diplomatically. Jack groaned and slumped down in his seat.  
"Stop teamin' up against me," he grumbled very cutely, and changed the song to something else. Argument won, Crutchie took a pillow and flopped down for a nap. 

\---

"Okay, now you have to admit it."  
"No!"  
"What can you possibly say to prove we aren't lost?"  
"We ain't, just gimme a second!"  
"You've been saying that for half an hour now!"  
"Well I'm half an hour closer to figurin' it out, huh?"  
"Your logic is so flawed, Jack."  
"Beats yours."  
"No, it doesn't, because I'm right, and we should have turned back at the last town which you would know if you'd just check the GPS!"  
Davey and Jack were having an argument. Mush was fussing with Blink's hair like he had been for the past hour while chatting with Crutchie. They were quite content to ignore the, er, debate going on up the front. They'd tried to help, at first, but it'd become clear that they were going to battle this one out by themselves.  
"-it said the turn off was right there! There's no exits for the next ten miles-"  
"I never really got the point 'a silent letters," Mush mused. "I mean, they's useless if you really think about it."  
"-don't mean the map's always got-"  
"Right? I dunno how they even happened!" Crutchie shook his head. "Who looked at a word and said to hisself, 'you know what this needs- some random letters!'"  
"-it does! Literally, it does! You can't possibly argue against-"  
"I wanna soak whoever said that, gosh." Mush sighed and started to weave a little plait into Blink's hair. Blink didn't seem too fazed by any of this. In fact, it was debatable as to whether or not he was actually awake. Not for the first time, Crutchie wondered what secrets he was hiding under that eyepatch. He tapped his chin thoughtfully.  
"Y'know that word, the one that's a real ridiculous way 'a spellin' fish? An' yet it actually makes sense technically, cus English is shit?" he asked, trying to remember what it had been. Mush shook his head.  
"Naw."  
"It's like... uh. Oh! Yeah! It's spelt like G-H-O-T-I," Crutchie said, scrunching up his nose a bit and playing with the strap on the camera. "G-H like in rough, O like in women, an' T-I like in nation!" He was pretty proud of himself for remembering. Mush looked appalled, though.  
"That's stupid!" he said emphatically. Without opening his eye, Blink reached up and gave him a pat on the cheek. This did very little to console him. Crutchie could only shrug.  
"English is stupid." He was about to continue on this rant when he noticed that the argument from the front had died down, replaced by the buzzing of Jack's phone. He paused the music and answered, and Crutchie listened curiously to the one sided mumbles of "yeah" and "nah" and "what, why, it's sorted-" "fine, fine" - oh, wait, he was putting it on speaker. A moment later, Spot's voice rang through the van.  
"Can yous all hear me?"  
"Yes," replied Davey.  
"Good. Someone fuckin' smack him, would ya?"  
"I'll do it later," Blink muttered. Jack scowled at the phone.  
"Whatever." Spot didn't sound very happy. "We been goin' down the road bout twenty minutes before we realised you wasn't followin', an' it's cus Kelly fucked up with his directions, so feel free to give him shit for th-"  
"PASS THE BONG TO THE LEFT," came Romeo's voice, and Crutchie winced at the volume. Then, at a more sensible level, "hi, babes!"  
"Hi, Romeo!" called Mush. "How is everyone?"  
"We's doin' great!" That was Race. "Juuuuust great. Hurry up an' turn the fuck around, Specs an' Romeo really desperately needa get a room before Spot shanks em for fu-"  
"Thanks, Spot," Davey interrupted loudly. "I'll turn around now. We'll meet you at the motel, Jack will text you the check in details so you don't have to wait for us." There was a smug edge to his voice that Crutchie honestly thought was kind of hot. Considering the moody look on Jack's face, he thought so too but probably wasn't planning on admitting it any time soon.  
"Aight. See ya soon." Jack hit the End Call button maybe a little viciously. Hehe. He got so sulky sometimes, like when you tapped a puppy on the nose for peeing on the rug and they got all grumpy. Crutchie thought it was super cute.

They pulled into the motel parking lot about three quarters of an hour later. The moon was almost full, Crutchie noticed as he opened up the back doors of the van to let everyone out. "I hope it gets full durin' the trip," he said to Davey, who was stretching after a full day of sitting at the wheel. Everyone else was making their way inside. "What if it did on the night we's campin' out? We oughta jus' sleep under the stars if it don't rain!" Davey looked up thoughtfully. He loved the moon.  
"I think it's got another couple of nights to go, and we are camping on the third night," he pointed out. "I don't know about sleeping outside though." Crutchie nudged him with his elbow.  
"Aw, c'mon. Live a little! What's that Latin stuff you's always sayin'?"  
"Carpe diem?"  
"Yeah, but in English."  
"Seize the day. Right. Yeah." Davey shook his head. "We'll see."  
"Good enough for me," Crutchie replied, knowing he had two days to wear him down.  
"Are you gonna join us inside or sit there all night? Jack's probably already jumping on the bed." They shared a smile at that; both taking a moment to be super in love with Jack Kelly. Hehe. Davey helped him out, then they went in together.  
The motel itself was kind of dingy. The kind of place where you expected cockroaches to be under every mattress. But it was cheap as chips, and since they didn't exactly have a huge budget they'd made the booking and decided it would be a good adventure. If they'd gone anyplace more expensive, they'd have to share rooms, and nobody particularly wanted to harken back to the days at the lodging house in terms of trying to make out quietly.  
As it was, it was a couple to a room (or triple in Crutchie's case!) and that suited everybody just fine. They'd stopped by a drive thru about an hour earlier, so everyone had eaten, and it seemed like they'd all withdrawn to their rooms for... well, that was none of his business. He supposed he'd see them in the morning.  
Stepping into their room, he had to smile. Davey was fussing with the curtains and Jack was flopped over the bed like he'd been absolutely wrecked by the exhausting day of sitting around. He sat up eagerly when Crutchie came in, and as mean as he felt for constantly comparing Jack to a puppy dog, he really did look like he'd been waiting obediently all day by the front door.  
"They got shampoo an' conditioner!" he announced, gesturing to where he'd already nicked the toiletries. Crutchie crossed the room to join him on the bed, getting his greeting kiss and leaning his crutch against the wall.  
"An' you took what, five minutes to steal it?" he laughed, rolling over to lie on his back. Davey, after taking off his shoes, came and joined them on his other side. Jack leaned over him to give Davey a kiss too, and Crutchie let out a relaxed sigh. He was content here, between the two people he loved most.  
"You fallin' asleep already?" Jack asked. "You jus' napped for like two hours."  
"I ain't sleepin', I'm restin' my eyes. Mind your own," he grumbled, giving him a halfhearted shove and getting a whine in response.  
"You's so mean to me."  
"Alright." He felt a hand- he hoped it was Jack's, and not the boogeyman's- take his own and gently squeezed back without opening his eyes. Too much effort. "Hey, Davey?"  
"Yeah?" came the sleepy reply from behind him. Gee, he really was tired. It was only about nine. Maybe driving was actually super exhausting? Crutchie couldn't drive cus of his leg (apparently not being able to brake was important!) so he wasn't going to find out anytime soon.  
"Love ya! An' you, Jack." Even if he did make them arrive an hour after the other car.  
"Gay." Jack's voice was laced with affection. "Me too." Davey just gave a quiet hum of agreement, and Crutchie snuggled up to him happily.  
"You oughta sleep," he murmured, finally opening his eyes so he could reach up and run his hand over Davey's hair, smoothing it down. Another little hum. He got so funny when he was tired. Either he was reduced to communicating solely through weird noises or he rambled on about whatever topic came to mind until his words blurred together and he fell asleep. One of the quirks that made Davey... Davey. "An' you too, Jack. You's drivin' tomorrow." Jack grumbled at that. "You want the blanket, at least?" Hum. That one sounded kind of affirmative, though, so Crutchie pulled himself up so he was sitting and grabbed the top sheets... blanket... whatever it was, and hauled it up over the three of them.  
When he settled back down, Jack wriggled up to cuddle into his back and threw an arm over him and Davey, who mumbled something incoherent and put his arm around Crutchie too. It was like a double hug combo, which was the best kind of hug.  
For a few minutes, everything was quiet. Davey's breathing went slow and deep and even, and Crutchie could count the in-two-three-fours and out-two-three-fours. It was really calming. He could feel Jack's breath on the back of his neck, too, but every now and then it kind of hitched and stuttered in the way everyone's breath does.  
"Hey, Jack," he said quietly and very seriously.  
"Yeah?"  
"We forgot to turn the light off." There was a slight pause, and then muffled laughter as Jack pressed his face into Crutchie's shoulder. He brought a hand to his mouth so his giggling didn't disturb Davey.  
"Hang on kid, I'll get it," Jack whispered once his laughter had died down, carefully rolling out of bed and going to flick the light off, leaving the room only faintly lit by the moonlight filtering through the window. That was better. Crutchie couldn't see Davey's face any more, even though it was about four inches from his, and that was a damn shame.  
He felt the bed dip as Jack rejoined them, a comforting weight against his back and a warm arm around his waist.  
"Love you." He didn't think he'd ever get tired of saying it.  
"Love you too." Or, for that matter, hearing it. He fell asleep like that, pressed between Jack and Davey and listening to their breathing. Maybe Crutchie was biased- probably definitely he was biased- but he thought it was the best way to sleep in the whole world.


End file.
